February 18, 2013

What is agenda? Agenda is a list of items to be discussed at
a formal meeting[1]. Agenda
setting, in a brief but broad description, is about the recognition of a problem
on the part of the government[2]. Before
a policy choice can be made, a problem
in society must have been accepted as a part of the agenda for the policymaking
system – that is, as one member of the set of problems deemed amenable to
public action and worthy of the attention of policymakers[3].
Thus, agenda setting is crucial in policymaking.

As with all the portions of the policymaking process, agenda setting
is an intensely political activity
because it involves bringing into the public consciousness an acceptance of a
vague social problem as something government can, and should, attempt to solve.
In agenda setting, the policy analysts is less a technician and more a
politician, by understanding the policymaking process and seeking to influence
that process towards a desired end.

Problems do come on and off the active policy agenda and tend to remain for
a long period of time. In the United States, an example of a problem being excluded after a long
period of time is the problem of poverty. Poverty was perceived not as a public
problem in the US but because of the publication of Michael Harrington’s The Other America and the growing
mobilization of poor people brought the problem of poverty to the agenda and
indirectly resulted in the launching of a war for its eradication[4]. This
is how crucial an important public issue should be put first on the agenda.

This report aims to present important urban housing policies and the
problems associated to it. The article of Stuart Cameron on “Gentrification,
Housing Redifferentiation and Urban Regeneration: ‘Going for Growth’ in Newcastle
upon Tyne” outlined some key urban housing policies in the United Kingdom. Going for Growth policy is the central
topic in this report. This policy is later expounded to present its
relationship to gentrification, housing redifferentiation, urban regeneration,
urban renaissance, and neighbourhood renewal. Although the article above
specified Newcastle in UK, it is an ideal city for research about issues of low
housing demand. The overall reason within which low housing demand develops is
regional economic weakness. This leads to population loss through migration.
Newcastle city is a regional capital city shifting its economy from
manufacturing to service employment.

The main focuses of this
term paper are the terms urban and city. This paper presents the underlying
concepts of urban policy and its role for city sustainability. Although there
are several concepts of urban policy in terms of its purpose, the democratic concept
(an emerging universal concept) focus
towards the attainment of quality of life
especially in cities - a place where people should feel the satisfaction of
life. Toward this end, the first part of this paper introduces some highlights
discussed by Dr. J. K. Seo in the urban policy course – this gives an
overview on how ideas were presented in this paper. In fact, the discussions
about urban policy influenced my urban perspective.

Submitted to: Dr. G. C. Jang, Professor, Research Methods in Public Administration, Department of Public Administration, Chonnam National University

Bibliographic Citation:

Nachmias, C., Nachmias, D. (2000). Research Methods in the Social
Sciences, Sixth Edition. New York: Worth Publishers and St. Martin’s Press

Introduction

The book I chose to
review for this assignment is entitled Research Methods in the Social Sciences
by authors Chava Frankfort-Nachmias and David Nachmias, 6th edition
(2000). I chose this book simply because all basic and concrete information
about social researches are discussed in-depth. Although it is the sixth
edition published more than a decade ago, this book is still very useful for students
like me as I broaden my knowledge about research. This book explicitly outlined
significant research methodologies coupled with specific research problems and findings
based on reliable studies. Such problems and findings are still visible in the
present sphere making this book indispensable.

A study submitted by J. B. Nangpuhan II (MPA Student) as a project under 'causal relationship' for the class (Research Methods in Public Administration) of Dr. G. C. Jang at Chonnam National University, South Korea. 2011Brief details of the NPNE PolicyCountry of Origin: Republic of the
Philippines

This study focuses on the implementation
of the ‘no permit no exam policy’ by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in
the Philippines and its effect on the number of university graduates.
This policy was strictly enforced by HEIs in the first quarter of 2010. This was after tough flood crisis hit the whole country in the third
and fourth quarter of 2009. An implicated result shows that the number of
university graduates in the Philippines in 2010 declined. This study will then
try to find out if there is a relationship of the policy to the declining
number of university graduates.

Synopsis: This term paper presents a comparison between universities in Korea
and in the Philippines. Specifically, the comparison is limited only to
government universities as one university in each country will be cited to represent a typical view of how government universities carry out
their functions as mandated by existing laws. Chonnam National University in
Korea and Ifugao State University in the Philippines will be taken into
consideration as both belong to the management of the national government of
each country. The measure of comparison will be based on existing documents the
writer presently have at hand. This term paper discusses three areas of comparison:
administration, instruction, and research.